Maine Central's Flying Yankee in Portland Maine. I rode her in October, 1952 after she became Boston & Maine's Minute Man running between Boston and Troy, NY.
A vintage B&M 2-6-0, built somewhere between 1903 and 1906 by the Manchester (NH) Locomotive Works. [John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library]
The B&M's Class R1d 4-8-2s were delivered in 1941, the last of 18 thoroughly modern Baldwin R1s that began delivery in 1935. Fun Fact: Overwhelmed with wartime tonnage, the Lehigh & Hudson River thought the B&M's 4-8-2s would be well-suited to their needs and bought three copies from Baldwin in 1944.
Maine Central's Mountain Division through Crawford Notch, NH. Warning, this video is over an hour long. So, grab your favorite beverage, a comfortable chair, sit back, and relax. Steam powered freight footage begins about 20 minutes in. During this segment you'll see freights pulled by a pair of steamers and pushed by one or two more as they climb the 15 mile grade that averaged 2.5%. There are places where it must have been steeper listening to steam stack talk and E7 growling.
The B&M also fielded electrics to field tonnage through 4-3/4 Mile Hoosac Tunnel, an engineering wonder of its age.
They went into the Great Bore with steam pressure up, and probably used some of it. But they cut the fuel way back so they could breathe. These replaced all the electrics, and several steamers too. It wasn't easy to get War Department approval to buy FTs, and less so if they gave you a surplus of power. But on the other hand, all that catenary wire recycled into a lot of important war materiel.
The War Department authorized the B&M to purchase FT's and F2's because of the direct connection between Midwest manufacturing via the New York Central connection at Rotterdam Jct, NY and East Coast shipping terminals in Maine and Massachusetts supporting the European war effort.
Hoosac Tunnel electrics were removed in 1946 when war traffic load was over and the Fitchburg Division was assigned only EMD F's and E's.
OK, just a personal experience, but.... B&M Fitchburg Division ran 2 or 3 day a week local out of Mechanicsville, NY to Williamstown, MA. Prior to 1952 it was powered by a lovely (my words, not B&M's) Consolidation. Living next to the tracks at Hoosick, NY with a once a month feed grain store delivery and a three mile-long passing track, as a young teenager I got to know the crew. One day they were waiting for clearance to run the passing track to Petersburg Jct., the Rutland Corkscrew Division crossing. Suddenly, someone from the cab yelled; "Hey, Hank, ya mind walking back from the Jct,?" Needless to say, I climbed into the cab. The engineer said sit down...in his seat! I ran that steamer for three miles...with his instructions. Oh Man, I'll never forget that day.
